


The Raven and the Swan

by Dream_Wreaver



Category: Sofia the First (Cartoon)
Genre: Canon Divergence, F/M, Rating May Change, Swan Princess AU, Swan Princess Retelling, Universe Alteration
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-16
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:33:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 18,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26501440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dream_Wreaver/pseuds/Dream_Wreaver
Summary: Based on the animated Swan Princess movie. Princess Sofia is pushed to marry the prince of a neighboring kingdom, Hugo. But when placed under a curse by Sorcerer whose needs bely his goals, which path will Sofia choose?
Relationships: Cedric the Sorcerer/Sofia the First
Comments: 9
Kudos: 35





	1. This is My Idea

**Author's Note:**

> New story time! Hope y'all enjoy this little jaunt into a bit of story retelling!

Princess Sofia always did her best to live up to people’s expectations of her. Especially with her mother as a Dowager Queen, she knew that the more she could do to take even some burdens off her mother’s shoulders, the better. Which was why Sofia spent summer after summer with Prince Hugo at Garrick’s request. Ever since Sofia could remember, this was how the warmest months of the year went, travelling to that kingdom, trying to have fun, and mostly spending time by herself while Hugo went off, discouraging her from every possible way of enjoying herself that meant hanging around the castle. Sofia typically tried not to judge people on first appearances, but something about Hugo had always rubbed her the wrong way. Conceited seemed like an applicable word when she had learned of it. Then again, she supposed it wasn’t really his fault; as the only son and heir to the throne, he was doted on, heralded as the future ruler but made to live up to his father’s harsh standards. King Garrick was exceptionally easy to displease and even harder to impress. But she didn’t think that gave Hugo the right to treat her the way they did. She knew what her mother and King Garrick’s hopes were, to marry their children and merge their kingdoms together. But even so young as six years old, Sofia felt she could never fall in love with him.

When Miranda fell in love with and married King Roland II of Enchancia, Sofia had -perhaps foolishly- hoped that meant there would be no more summer visits. After all, now the kingdoms of her home and Enchancia were united with the two monarchs’ marriage. There was no need to join her hand with Hugo’s in order to unite their lands. But, it seemed that this was now made a family activity, with her new step-siblings Amber and James tagging along for the journey. Sofia would admit, it did help ease the burden, as she at least had some other people her own age to play with, and, as she would later find out, the gift her new father had given her made sure her days were anything but dull. Her amulet would allow her to speak to animals, to change her size and even her form; making friends with the mermaids who lived in one of the lakes by the castle. And with James having a lot in common with Hugo, and Amber commanding attention wherever she went, Sofia found she was very easily able to slip away without being missed.

And so the years passed, summertime was no longer dreaded, but Sofia still couldn’t honestly say that she looked forward to it. Not with the expectation that she and Hugo would someday wed hanging over her head. She knew that her mother, and her father, would never force her to make a decision she did not wish to make, but that the expectation was there and they were hoping to force a natural relationship by consistently bringing them into contact with one another. Amber always thought Sofia had taken leave of her senses,

“How could you not want to marry Prince Hugo Sofia?” she would always ask her sister, “He’s one of the handsomest, wealthiest, most sought after princes in the land. And _you_ have a contract which basically puts you at first in line for his hand. If you only knew how envious so many of the other princesses were-”

“Thanks Amber,” Sofia would reply, “But I really don’t see what there is to be envious of.”

Sure, a large and wealthy kingdom and good looks were all well and good, but those weren’t things that could sustain a marriage. Looks faded, kingdoms and their wealth could rise and fall as easily as tides against the shore on a moonlit night. All those things meant nothing when a union would last a lifetime. Sofia wanted not for coins or jewels or fancy dresses or high society tea parties and balls. What she wanted, what she really, truly wanted… was what she saw between her parents. The love between Miranda and Roland was so ever present it was palpable. And even a subject from the farthest reaches of the land who had never before set eyes on his sovereign could come to the castle and tell at a glance how enamored of and in love the monarchs were. That was what Sofia wanted, and she feared to make the others happy she would agree to a life without it.

The day of her eighteenth birthday, Sofia knew. This would be the penultimate summer, everyone’s last chance to entice feelings between her and Hugo. And while she could safely say that her opinion of him had risen, and she did enjoy his company far more than in years previous, she was not at all ready to marry him, or anyone. That winter was a cold one, not in terms of weather but of what it meant for her future. Forlornly Sofia would stare at the calendar hanging up in her room, every spring until harvest she would have to deal with the hints of how wonderful Hugo was, how hadn’t he grown into a fine young man? How many trophies he had won at the latest royal derby, how wonderfully he had done at the latest hunt (that one was a _particular_ sore spot for Sofia, as she had known many of the creatures he had later had turned into food and clothing). And sadly it wasn’t even from her parents this was coming from. No, that was a product of Amber and her friends, namely Hildegarde and Clio, talking about the most eligible princes in the entire Ever Realm. Hildegarde had once even had the brash to ask Sofia that if she really didn’t wish to marry Hugo would she mind so terribly if Hildegarde took her place? That had been cause for a fight to break out, as Amber and Clio had apparently also wanted to ask her that self-same question but had decided to wait for a more appropriate time. And Sofia had to wonder that, even if she _did_ go along with getting married, would this sort of talk cease? Or would she simply be left out of the conversations?

The months passed until the carriage was loaded up, and Sofia was hustled inside of it. Fear caused her to freeze when they reached gates of the castle, stiffening and even resisting when Roland began pulling on her arm to help her out of the carriage. Eventually, he and Baileywick, their castle steward, had to physically manhandle her and carry her out as she continued to wriggle to try and get out of their grasp.

She was escorted to a large ballroom, where many a summer celebration had been held. So many memories… of making her appearance and then sneaking out as soon as was possible. She had to admit, the castle and its surrounding grounds were beautiful, a home away from the new one she had made in the Enchancian palace. But… but. As far as she was aware Hugo was still that self-same, somewhat conceited, somewhat immature boy she had met when they were much, much younger. Sofia’s traveling shawl was taken as a last minute priority, sending her spinning for a couple of steps. She folded her arms as she tried to regain her sense of balance, all these years of being royal and still she never got used to the constant need for heeled shoes with too long dresses. Taking a deep breath, Sofia began looking around.

There, at the other end of the ballroom, was Hugo. But Sofia almost wouldn’t have recognized him. The way he was looking at her, soft, as though just truly seeing her for the first time. And that smile, how had she never noticed how handsome he was when he smiled? Sofia’s heart started pounding in her chest, her knees felt weak, and a lump started to form in her throat. She buzzed with a feeling she didn’t quite recognize. She felt, bubbly, giddy, like she was lighter than air. In slow steps so she wouldn’t stumble she made her way to Hugo. Taking hold of her skirts she dipped into a perfect curtsy before him,

“Prince Hugo,” she greeted.

“Princess Sofia,” he bowed in response, “So happy you could come,”

“So happy to be here,” she replied quietly. When he took her hand and kissed it she felt her cheeks heat profusely.

“You may find me a bit silly for saying this but,” Hugo said, “I wonder if you might honor me with a dance?”

“Oh I’m-” she found herself about to say she wasn’t much of a dancer. But oh to dance with him suddenly seemed like a dream come true, “I’d be delighted, but there’s no music,”

Clearly, her nerves were getting the better of her if excuses not to kept slipping past her lips. But Hugo merely chuckled, finding it comical,

“Since when has that ever stopped you from doing anything you wanted to do?”

So he _had_ noticed, and here she thought she’d never been missed when she slipped away. Sofia giggled, batting her eyes without even meaning to. Hugo led her out to the middle of the floor and began to lead her. He was a skilled dancer, and she felt even further like she was floating as he led them across the room. Sofia even completely managed to forget there was no music they were dancing to, lost in his smile as they spun effortlessly and endlessly about. So this was love; this uplifting feeling where you felt as if you could never stop smiling, where you felt as if you could dance for hours without ever getting sore, where the world looked a little brighter, a little rosier. It was the most wonderful feeling in the world, happiness magnified tenfold.

Slowly, slowly they stopped. Sofia felt dizzy, light-headed, even though they were no longer moving. At the corners of her eyes, she saw the dim glow of candle light and idly wondered where the daytime had gone to. How long had she been dancing for? But any attempt to question it died on her tongue as she saw the way Hugo looked at her now. Still soft, but with an emotion she could only liken to hunger, as though he wished to devour her. Her heartbeat picked up its frantic pace once again. Hugo leaned down, and gently brushed his lips against hers. Sofia’s eyes slid shut, feeling one of his hands come to cup her neck and the back of her head through her hair as her hand slid over his shoulder. She saw bright lights behind her closed lids, appearance mirroring the sparking sensations she felt radiating out from their mouths. Chaste it may have been but it set her world on fire. Was _this_ the missing piece? This magic she had been unaware had existed before now? Was this what she had seen between Miranda and Roland? Surely it had to be, because this felt much the same way that looked. Did this mean she was in love? Did this mean she loved Hugo?

Slowly they drew apart and opened their eyes. Sofia smiled softly at who she now knew was her prince. But that was when he turned his gaze away from her. It was then she became aware of the fact that the ballroom was no longer theirs alone. Everyone from servants to other royals was watching this. Sofia’s cheeks heated once again, this time in embarrassment at being so brazen. Her parents were standing together, looking absolutely enamored of the pair Sofia and Hugo made. And then, Hugo addressed them directly,

“Arrange the marriage!” he declared, met with rapturous applause. And those nerves which had caused her to resist getting out of the carriage began to sound loudly in her head. Sofia wriggled until she could push herself out of his arms.

“Wait,” she couldn’t believe him. To get married, just like that, after only one kiss? Something about it just didn’t sit right with her. Sure, they had spent every summer for over a decade in each other’s proximity, but how much did they really know about each other?

Her word of hesitation caused a shocked hush to fall over the onlooking crowd. Everyone seemed surprised she wouldn't be as eager if not more so to get married. But to marry like this… Sofia couldn't ignore her feelings, and she had always been told to trust them regardless of what anyone else said.

And now Hugo was the one who looked confused, “What?” he asked her, as though _she_ were the one being unreasonable here, “You’re all I ever wanted.” He told her, and he _sounded_ like he meant it, but then he gestured to her and added, “You're beautiful!”

“Well, thank you,” she allowed, “But what else?”

“What else?” He repeated incredulously, as though more surprised she'd want to hear a compliment not in regards to her beauty.

“Is beauty all that matters to you?” She asked him, wanting, _needing_ to know. To hear honestly if she was someone he wanted, of is she was simply another prize he sought to win.

King Garrick coughed loudly, clearly trying to salvage the situation. “Hugo,” he began, smiling but speaking through his teeth as he laughed in a manner meant to dispel the tension but too obviously trying to conceal his temper, “What else?” He motioned for his son to speak.

“I- uh-” Hugo for once didn't seem to know what to say. And so he made the biggest blunder of the night, “What else is there?”

Sofia couldn’t believe this. Beauty, it all had come down to simple beauty. He only loved her because of her looks. The revelation left her feeling hollow, and sick. Had she simply imagined those feelings she’d felt when she’d first seen him again? Or was it simply the delusion he was a changed man, a mature one? Were his words simply the confirmation she had been looking for? That at his core he was still that same immature boy who’d looked near sick to kiss her on the hand. But the words, they stung, cut her deep in her heart. And if it had been love she’d felt, it had ended in a way that was perhaps appropriate for first loves to end. In bitter disillusionment.

Needless to say Sofia didn’t get any sleep that night. The animals from around the castle did their best to comfort her, but it was all to no avail. Sofia was heartbroken, and the next morning when the Enchancian royalty saddled up their horses and the carriages to return to their kingdom, Sofia in her traveling shawl was more like a wraith than a princess. King Roland and Queen Miranda looked somewhat forlornly at King Garrick. The three monarchs sighed and shook their heads in disappointment.

“Well,” Roland offered, “We tried Garrick. No one can say we didn’t try,”

“Right,” Garrick replied gruffly. Hugo stood to his father’s side, looking petulant and like he didn’t want to be there at all.

As Sofia headed for the carriage her parents called for her to say goodbye. This was likely the last time she’d ever see this kingdom again.

“Goodbye,” she said softly, laden with all the sadness of what might have been. When Roland and Miranda motioned that she should make her farewell a little more personal she tacked on, “Prince Hugo,” at then end and then disappeared into the carriage.

Though she was no longer in sight, Garrick elbowed his son to say something in return.

“Goodbye your majesties,” he said, instead of saying goodbye to the woman he was supposed to marry.

The kings and queen looked at each other once again, shook their heads for a final time, and then Roland and Miranda entered their carriage. The the crack of a whip the carriage took off, and Garrick sighed again, turning for his castle,

“All those years of planning,” Hugo overheard his father say as he headed back inside, “ _WASTED!_ ”

StF

The carriage ride heading back to Enchancia was quiet and subdued. Even as the carriage started rolling for the castle gates, Sofia could feel the weighted stares of her family members as their eyes continued to rest on her. To avoid their questions, even temporarily, she chose to instead watch the scenery pass by. On one of the gate’s turrets she saw a lone black bird that let out a hoarse caw. If she recalled her ornithology correctly, it was a raven, bird of death. How fitting, since her heart had died last night.

When they were far enough away, or when Amber’s inquisitiveness got the better of her, rather, she turned to her sister and said, “How could you have made such a huge mistake!”

“Calm down Amber,” James interjected, “You’re making a huge deal out of this,”

“If I am, it’s only because _you’re_ not making a big enough deal out of it James,” Amber shot back before returning her focus to Sofia, “One of the wealthiest, handsome princes in the land, and you turn him _down_.”

“Amber, I really don’t want to talk about it right now,” Sofia tried to tell her.

“And what else, what else!” Amber continued on regardless, “You ask him what else!”

“Would you have wanted to marry him after what he said?” Sofia asked her sibling, wanting to know if Amber valued vanity over everything else that mattered in a marriage.

“The thing with princes Sofia,” Amber chided her, “Is that beauty matters most at first, but the way you keep them is by showing them how good of a queen you can be. _That’s_ what matters most.”

“Well I’m sorry that I didn’t think becoming queen was a good enough reason to marry someone who only thinks I’m beautiful,” Sofia felt her own temper rising. But knowing how the amulet at her throat worked, she tried to calm down. For each deed done, for better or worse, a power was granted, blessing or cursed. She didn’t need to get cursed for fighting with her sister about this.

“I just don’t understand Sofia,” Roland shook his head, “What else did you _want_ him to say?”

How to articulate the way she was feeling? Hm… Sofia sighed as she pondered the question for a moment before responding, “I need to know he loves me. For just being me, exactly as I am. Not because I’m beautiful. I want someone who sees _beyond_ all the fancy dresses and pretty jewels. Someone who loves me whether I’m as plain as an ugly duckling or as pretty as a swan.”

StF

In the distance of the growing dusk, a lone hooded figure stood watching the royals and their carriage. A raven swooped overhead, landing on a nearby branch and letting out a hoarse caw. The time was nearly upon them. Lifting the hood ever so slightly, a man with tired, sunken features and a shock of white fringe at the front of his otherwise blackened hair sneered at the royal insignia. And then he smiled, a dark and cruel smile.

“Today’s the day Roland,” he spoke to no one, save perhaps the raven, though it was more than clear he was addressing the king, “Today’s the day I make good on my promise. Everything you own, everything you love; will. Be. _Mine_.”

StF

The carriage jostled to a short stop, causing everyone inside to look at each other in confusion if not a little bit of fear. The roads were growing dark, and they still had a long ways to go before they were anywhere _near_ Enchancia’s borders. But as Roland stepped out to examine what the issue was, Sofia also poked her head out the window, her amulet dropping out of the bodice of her dress and gleaming in the fading light. Roland immediately pushed her back into the carriage, finally catching wind of the situation. A cloaked figure was standing in the middle of the road, and seemed to be refusing to move. A chilling wind blew, whooshing right through all of Roland’s finery and leaving him chilled while merely stirring the ends of his mysterious adversary’s cape. A hoarse caw came from overhead, piercing the apprehensive and foreboding silence of the dusk. Roland gathered up his courage and demanded to know who was blocking the road. But rather than respond, the hooded figure gathered what looked like multi-colored lightning in his hands. But as any royal with a royal sorcerer knew, it was magic. Whomever this was, it was no one they should be tangling with right now. Another caw resounded, and with a blinding flashed a great hulking shadow came rushing towards them, flapping its great and inky wings with spear like talons out for attack.

The noises that rang out from the forest startled the birds into taking wing through the darkness, a shrill and piercing wave of sound able to be heard from miles away. What was perhaps less audible however, were the sounds of cracking and splintering wood, the gnarled and screeching sound of metal being twisted, the flash of magic cast sounding like the strike of a lightning bolt against an unsuspecting tree, the sound of decimation. The sounds of screams and cries of terror as they were lost to the trees. And then eventually the most terrifying sound of them all. The chilling, deafening sound; of silence.

StF

A self-depreciating game of chess was interrupted by a foot soldier bursting through the door. He looked like he had seen the gates of hell, though what precisely he had faced he either could not nor had the time to articulate. He came in screaming, crazed, saying that the royal family needed help, and fast. Without even thinking about it Hugo had saddled up a horse and was riding out. What he came upon was a scene that would haunt him for the rest of his days. The royal carriage of Enchancia was smashed to bits, with only scant pieces of it vaguely recognizable in the debris.

Hugo looked around and found the Enchancian Royal Steward, Baileywick, laying on the ground, with a small cut on his forehead. With no one else from the royal line around he went to the older man, rousing him,

“Baileywick,” he prodded the man, “Who did this?”

“Oh I…” Baileywick panted, “I don’t… it all… happened so quickly I-” he raised a trembling hand to his head as if attempting to remember physically pained him, “A great… _animal_!” his eyes went wide as though still seeing the creature.

“What happened to the others?” Hugo pressed, “King Roland, Queen Miranda…” he paused realizing none of the children were there either, “Sofia,” he lost all color in his face, “Where’s Sofia?”

Baileywick was rambling now, “Listen to me,” he urged the prince, “Things… it’s… not what it seems. It’s _not_ what it seems!”

“What’s not?” Hugo asked him, “Where is Sofia?”

“Sofia…” Baileywick mumbled, “Sofia is… _gone_.”

And then the old steward’s eyes closed and he passed out. Hugo looked around the site of the incident, trying to find any evidence as to what had happened to Sofia, or any of the Enchancian royals. But there was nothing, no trace, it was as if they had just vanished into nothingness. As if whatever had attacked them had managed to make it so they had never existed at all. And Hugo despaired, his future queen, forever lost, and never to be seen again. Bad enough his father was mad at him for making such a public blunder, now there was no hope for recovery. The stories would forever paint the story as such; the girl who vanished after he broke her heart.

Realizing that Baileywick likely needed medical attention, Hugo saddled him up on his horse and brought him back to the castle. Hopefully with a little rest and recovery, the former steward would be able to shed a little more light on what had happened.


	2. Far Longer than Forever

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back at it again! Hope this gives you all a bit of an idea of how the story's going to change. I want to hit some of the major plot beats, but hopefully provide what is an original and interesting take on the story. As I said, this version is based heavily on the 90s animated version, so if you like where I'm going with this you may enjoy those movies (only the original 2d animated ones though, trust me on that). Anyways, enjoy!

Deep in the forest, unbeknownst to the two kingdoms it sat between, there lay a hidden kingdom. A dilapidated castle set against the trees; crumbling stonework and ruins of structures that once were, but no so badly damaged it was impossible to tell their purpose. Besides the castle ruins and its sorcerer’s tower, there lay a huge glassy lake, a giant mirror normally undisturbed but now a small trail of ripples marred the clear and crystalline waters. At one of the edges of the lake stood two creatures, one tall, slender, and foreboding, and the other a beautiful swan. But this was no normal swan. Though it looked almost white in the dim dusky lighting its feathers were actually like lavender, at the swan’s crown was a small tuft of auburn, and at its chest, a small teardrop shaped tuft of purple. Forlornly the swan pecked at the breadcrumbs, seemingly hungry despite its disposition.

The taller man pushed back his hood and gazed at the bird, “Oh come now Princess,” he said as he folded his arms, attempting to be cordial if nothing else, “Don’t let my little spell make you upset.”

When the swan turned almost human blue eyes on him before scoffing and shaking its head, he continued,

“Come now, if this whole thing could have been avoided I would have. But I was left no choice. You don’t need to be so gloomy about it, the spell doesn’t even last that long. Look,”

He pointed to the sky, and the swan followed his gesture. The moon was rising higher in the sky, and reaching a point of reflection on the lake. The swan turned back to the sorcerer who had attacked her and her family, who was now smiling genially as if he hadn’t taken everything she’d loved from her.

“You see,” he said as he watched the moon rise higher and higher, “When the moon’s light touches your feathers,” he paused as he watched the silvery blue light reach the swan, illuminating her and the water below her. In a rather impressive feat of magic, which even the swan looked awed by, the water and she began to rise. While the liquid swirled around her and the light grew blinding, an orb of magic completed the transformation. When the water and the light dissipated, there stood Princess Sofia in the waters. She looked awestruck that she was human again.

“And you see, that’s how the spell works,” the man explained, “Of course, in order to transform back you have to be on the lake, but otherwise you are a swan by day, and yourself by night.”

Sofia turned to him then, finally remembering that rather than be impressed with the feat of sorcery she should be angry about the attack, about her family, about being cursed to be a swan, “Who _are_ you?” she demanded to know, “And why did you do this to me?”

“Ah, yes, you and your mother weren’t exactly around when everything happened, now were you?” he shrugged, “I am Cedric, Cedric the Sinister,” he introduced himself, “And as for why I cursed you… well,”

“Well?” Sofia prompted, folding her arms and raising a brow at him.

“I suppose I should explain, but all you truly need to know is that I am taking my revenge, on your father. I promised him once that everything he owned, everything he loved, would be mine. And today, I have finally made good on that.”

“So you killed my family for revenge?” Sofia shook her head at him, “Then why spare me? If it’s the kingdom you’re after, then clearly you have the power to do it.”

“Kill? Oh good heavens no,” Cedric shook his head and made a face as though he were disgusted at the implication, “I didn’t kill anyone. I’m a villain, not a monster my dear princess.”

“Then… what did you do to them?” Sofia’s eyes lit with hope against her better judgement. That attack by the giant raven had been brutal, merciless, she truly thought her family had been killed in the attack. To know they weren’t dead though, it was a huge relief.

“Rest assured your family is perfectly safe, for now,” Cedric added with a look out the corner of his eyes, “Perhaps if you cooperate, I may even let you join them.”

“So what is it you want?” Sofia asked him, “Why me?”

“The answer my dear, is simple,” Cedric replied, “I want, _that_ ,” a gloved hand missing its fingertips pointed directly at her chest. Sofia looked down and saw what he truly meant. The amulet, _her_ amulet. Instinctively a protective hand rose to cover the jewel from his sight, her face fell in shock and fear.

But more so she was confused, curious, “But why do you need my amulet?” she asked him, “It’s the kingdom you’re after isn’t it? Why not just take it now? You already have the power, you don’t need mine,”

Cedric shook his head and smiled, clearly bemused, “My dear, the amulet provides more than power. For so many years that amulet has been a symbol to the people of Enchancia, their minds are closed, simple. Whoever bears the amulet is meant to rule the people. Besides that, there are powers not even my magic can achieve. But your amulet can gift them to me.”

“But why do you need them?” Sofia pressed, “Your magic is already so clearly incredible, you don’t need an amulet.”

“Flattery is nice my dear,” Cedric parried, “but it will not get you anywhere with me. Now, hand over the amulet.”

“No,” Sofia folded her arms and turned away from him, “If you want my amulet then you’ll have to take it, just like everything else.”

“Do you really think me so stupid?” Cedric asked her, “I know the legends of the amulet. For each deed done and all that. Do you think I would be asking for it if I knew stealing it came with no repercussions? No, the amulet must be freely given in order to avoid being cursed by it. And that is exactly what you’ll do.”

“And if I don’t?” Sofia rebutted.

“Well, I suppose you’ll simply have to enjoy being a swan for the rest of your life,” Cedric shrugged, “Makes no difference to me. The longer you wait, the longer the people have time to forget the royal family. The easier it is for me to make a fake to fool them.”

“Then have fun doing that,” Sofia shot back at him. Wading out of the shallows and marching off, intent finding her way back to the castle.

“Remember before you storm off in a huff, princess,” Cedric’s voice cause her to pause, “As soon as the moonlight leaves the lake, you’ll turn back into a swan. No matter where you are, no matter where you go. And you cannot turn back unless you are on this lake.”

Sofia felt tears prick her eyes. So she turned to him, “If I give you the amulet,” she began, “Will you set me free?”

“You are free to leave the domain of the castle and the lake at any time,” Cedric informed her, “But as for breaking the curse, I’m afraid it’s not so simple as that.”

“But you do know a way,” Sofia pressed, “I mean, if you were skilled enough to curse me, then you must be skilled enough to undo it,”

“Of course,” Cedric replied pompously, seeming to bely his earlier statement of flattery not getting her what she wanted, “I am Cedric the Sinister! I can do anything! Your spell is simple enough to break, if you are as skilled in magic as I am. But why you think an amulet is worth your freedom to return and warn anyone of my plans is beyond me. For the amulet, I can reunite you with your family. But as to break the curse, there’s nothing you could ever offer me that would be worth it.”

“Then there’s no way to break the curse!” Sofia lamented, “You’re just too powerful,”

“While that is true, there are plenty of ways to break your spell,” Cedric retorted, “As a matter of fact, I shall grant you knowledge of one of them, simply to prove I am not so cruel as I might seem.”

“But why?” Sofia let a tear break loose and trickle down her face.

“Because,” Cedric’s smile in that instant made him live up to moniker, “It will be far more entertaining to watch you suffer,”

“Suffer?”

“One of the only other ways to break your spell is to have someone make a vow of everlasting love, and prove it to the world,” Cedric informed her, “And considering what transpired at Prince Hugo’s castle last night, I doubt I have much to worry about there.”

“I- how do you know that?” Sofia challenged him. There was no way the news of his haste to marry and her subsequent refusal could have reached the ears of someone like _this_.

“Let’s just say…” Cedric drawled, smirk clearly indicating he found humor in the situation, “A little birdie told me.”

The reminder of the open wound in her heart caused her pain to multiply. She really thought she could love Hugo, really thought he could love her. But there was nothing more in his affections than adoration of her beauty. Cedric was right, there was nothing she could do but suffer.

StF

After Baileywick’s recovery he still didn’t remember much about the incident. Only insomuch as he’d already revealed. And shortly after he claimed he had to return to the Kingdom of Enchancia in order to rule until the royal family was found. It was impressive the man held out hope that one day the house of Winslow would return to the throne, but Hugo couldn’t precisely deny that he was still holding out hope that Sofia was somewhere. Baileywick remembered seeing her being carted off by the great animal, whatever it was, and disappearing into the sky. So there was far more hope for her still being alive than any of the others, may the protectors rest their souls.

Unfortunately, there was nothing more specific about what sort of great animal had attacked the royal family. Nor were there any books that might be helpful in such a regard, thanks in part to the aforementioned vagueness on what exactly the great animal that attacked them was. He was still researching when it was announced they had another royal visitor. Hugo went to receive them and found Princess Hildegarde of Freezenberg. But he would not have recognized her without the introduction. She looked nothing like the Hildegarde he was used to seeing. Though the quality of her clothes was as fine as ever, as befitting a princess, but it was in complete contrast to her normal sense of style. Instead of the royal blue coloring with frills and lace and pearls, she was instead in a rather -by comparison anyways- simplistic black gown. Her hair, normally large and completely done up, was instead plaited around her head, taking the place of her crown, and in her hands was a large black hat with a black veil. She was clearly in mourning, but for who?

“Prince Hugo,” even her voice sounded different, completely loaded with sorrow, and sorrow that was not a production as some of her other emotions were. Her curtsy was lackluster, as if she was simply going through motions she had no energy for, “I… I just received word from Baileywick and came as soon as I could. Please, is there nothing of the royal family? Any trace at all?”

Hugo felt his heart go out to her. Hildegarde and Amber had been the closest of companions. Just as much sisters as Amber had been with Sofia. The loss was surely devastating for her too. And Hugo wished he at least had an answer to give her. But alas, he was at just as much a loss as she was.

“I’m sorry, Princess Hildegarde,” Hugo shook his head, “But there is no trace of the Enchancian Royal Family. I tried to ask Baileywick what happened, but he said some sort of great animal attacked them.”

“There’s _nothing_?” Hildegarde pressed him, stepping forward into the castle’s main hall, “Not a single scrap?”

“No,” Hugo shook his head again, “There’s nothing.”

“No bodies?” Hildegarde stepped closer, “Clothes? Nothing?”

“No,” Hugo affirmed, “It’s as if they simply disappeared.”

“Then…” she murmured, “There’s still hope they could be found?” her eyes shined with desperation to know that that was a possibility. And Hugo simply couldn’t find it in himself to tell her no, especially when he was hoping he’d be able to find Sofia.

“There may be,” Hugo nodded, “Baileywick remembered whatever attacked the carriage was strong enough to cart Sofia away. Maybe they’ve simply been captured, and they’re all alive. But I’m still trying to find out what this ‘great animal’ is. Maybe if I can, I can find them.”

“And I’ll help you,” Hildegarde said as she strode forward to meet him at the bottom of the stairs.

“No need Princess Hildegarde,” Hugo insisted, “I can do just fine on my own,”

“Hugo,” Hildegarde put her hands on her hips, “Everyone knows you haven’t picked up a book since you finished your studies ages ago. I seriously doubt you have any idea what’s even _in_ your library, assuming it’s even organized. No, if you’re going to be doing research you’ll need my help.”

“And why do you think you’re the one for this task?” Hugo asked her, taking slight offense at the way she implied he was less than capable of doing it himself. Especially since she probably had a point.

“Prince Hugo, I am from Freezenberg,” Hildegarde reminded him, “You know, the coldest kingdom in the known Ever Realm? What do you think I _do_ at home all day?”

“You read?” Hugo asked her, “I thought your preferences lay elsewhere,”

“I started with the fashion plates,” Hildegarde admitted as she nimbly alighted on the landing beside him and started escorting him back to the library, “But even those got boring when your weather insists you spend more time indoors than out of it. So, I became quite adept at library keeping. Oh, that reminds me!” she called over her shoulder, “Kai! Send for my trunk and the royal library’s inventory list! I need to see what books on ‘great animals’ we may have in our collection.”

“Inventory list?” Hugo asked.

“Of course,” Hildegarde parried, “Every good royal library should have one. I suppose I shall have to have one created for you while I’m here,” she clucked her tongue, “The work of a princess is never done I suppose. But, it should help us narrow down what books to look in.”

“And you’re _sure_ this will help us?” Hugo asked her, still slightly unable to believe he was allowing her to aide in this task. Or rather, that he wasn’t putting up as much of a fuss at sharing his quest as he thought he might.

“Prince Hugo, the royal family of Enchancia is missing,” Hildegarde reminded him, “The way I see it, you’re going to need all the help you can get.”

StF

Back at the dilapidated castle Cedric ensconced himself in his sorcery tower, trying to work on his attack plan for taking over the kingdom but finding himself constantly distracted. He couldn’t get the encounter with the young Princess Sofia out of his mind. And unfortunately, that conscience he’d never managed to properly squash was rearing its head. The same conscience that had kept him from doing as Sofia had suggested and getting the entire royal family out of the way once and for all. Oh bother it all! Cedric turned to the portrait of his mother and father. Ah yes, good old Goodwin the Great and Winifred the Wise. How many years had it been since he’d last seen them? Perhaps not since… not since the incident. After that night, he’d run away to prove everyone wrong, and to plot his revenge. This had all been a long time coming, and he wasn’t about to let sentimentality get in the way.

But, hadn’t it already? He knew that sparing the Princess Sofia had been a necessity. Simply taking the amulet from her would have saddled him with a nasty curse that only doing good deeds would be able to cure. And unfortunately, he had enough foresight to realize that desiring to take a kingdom that by technicality was not his to take, might not engender him so kindly to whatever spell controlled the power granting mechanism of the amulet. So… wait, why was he attempting to take the amulet again? Why even bother with the young princess? Why not just do as he had done with the others and then take over Enchancia?

He tried to weigh the reasons behind his decisions in his mind. And ultimately, he could come up with only one. Her awe. Magic had always been something which inspired awe of those who could watch but not wield it, and the royal families of the Ever Realm had been no exception. But after his banishment magic had been practically outlawed from the kingdom of Enchancia. Witches and wizards who dared to practice their craft were subject to heavy taxation and forced to register with the Crown. And they were also subject to heavy surveillance, which often meant they couldn’t make a living as anything more than healers if they practiced publicly at all. Those who went to other kingdoms where magic was practiced more freely always needed to be searched upon their return, and any potentially dangerous artefacts or ingredients were often confiscated. The contraband vault deep in the bowels of Enchancia Castle were rife with treasures most mortals couldn’t even imagine.

Due to his own ignorance and fear, Roland had outlawed the use of magic in the castle. The children had likely never seen it, and the powers the amulet possessed the young princess would likely _have_ to have been kept secret from her step-father or else there would be severe repercussions. Naturally seeing what he could do would inspire awe in a fellow magic user. The kinds of magic practitioners in the Kingdom of Enchancia or even princesses with magical amulets did was nothing compared to what years of solitary study in the tower had yielded. He had scoured the entire Ever Realm searching, stealing, gaining knowledge wherever he could so he could ensure his complete and total victory. And to see all his hard work finally pay off, not only in the fear of Roland, but in the awe of the young princess who had never before seen the kind of magic he could do. As powerful as the Amulet of Avalor was, the powers it granted the princess were nothing compared to what he could do.

Which left him back exactly at square one. How could he prove he meant business if he didn’t even have the fortitude to take the lives of those who stood in his way? Cedric sighed and pushed aside his maps and little figurines. Then he lay his head on the table, letting himself fall into a miasma of melancholy and self-deprecation. He lifted his head and turned to his familiar. A black raven named Wormwood.

“Oh Wormy,” he lamented, “Do you think I was too hard on the poor girl? I mean, after all, it isn’t _her_ fault she’s in this mess,” Cedric sighed again, “If she would just _give_ me the amulet then…” Cedric shook his head, “No, no, I couldn’t possibly set her or her family free. Then no one would ever take me seriously as a king.”

Wormwood cawed just a moment before speaking, “Cedric, Cedric, Cedric,” he tutted, “You have done what you swore to do when you were a boy. Revenge necessitates cruelty. I do think you were far too kind in simply freezing the others rather than destroying them. And as for the princess,” he paused a moment, “Well, I think you made the right call there.”

“You do?” Cedric turned to his raven, desperate for the validation.

“Naturally,” Wormwood confided, “She has the amulet, you don’t want to get cursed, not only that but keeping one of them under your control could prove useful even if you _don’t_ manage to get the amulet from her.”

“What do you mean by that Wormy?” Cedric asked.

“There is always a great deal you can do with a poor, defenseless, girl,” Wormwood reminded him, “And as they say, there’s more than one way to skin a pig, or seize a throne in this case.”

Cedric gasped in shock, “Wormwood that is completely out of the question,” he set his foot down, “If she refuses to give me the amulet then she is of no further use to me and she will join the others. But otherwise not one hair on her head is to be harmed. Now, are you going to help me plan out the conquest of Enchancia or not?”

Wormwood rolled his eyes and sighed, “Yes, master,” he acquiesced, hopping over to the desk to help provide visual planning for the battle plan.

StF

Out on the lake, Sofia lamented her new fate. A swan by day, and a prisoner by night. As a human she couldn’t manage to cover the distance to get help before the sun would rise again, and with the enchantments Cedric had placed over the castle there was no way anyone would ever find her here on their own. Her only chance was to try and lead someone back to the castle in time for her transformation. The problem was, she didn’t even know precisely where in the Ever Realm this castle was located, and therefore she’d be unable to figure out which direction to go. The swan girl forlornly paddled around on the lake’s surface. And it was such a pretty place too, what a shame it was home to an evil sorcerer. But then, Sofia didn’t really think he _was_ evil. Which was ridiculous in and of itself. This man had attacked her family, but he’d spared their lives. They were _somewhere_ , and if she could believe him, they were alive, didn’t that speak more to his real character?

But then again, he _had_ cursed her, had her turned into a swan. But only by daylight another part of her argued. He could have turned her into a swan for real, if he was powerful enough to create that attack on their carriage, Sofia had no doubt he probably would have been able to make her a swan _permanently_ , without her memories or anything. But, that same first part argued, he only did it so that he would be able to convince her to give him the amulet. This mental back and forth over whether her captor was a good man or not was going to drive her crazy. Especially since she’d just called him her captor and apparently that wasn’t enough to tell her heart he was a bad man. But… hadn’t she always been told to listen to her heart? Her heart said that he wasn’t truly a bad man, just… just misguided. There had to be something she was missing, some way she could perhaps convince him to let her go, to let go of this pursuit of a kingdom that wasn’t his.

And yet by nightfall, Sofia still had no clue of what way she might persuade him to free her. As she transformed back on the surface of the lake, she wandered to the side nearest to the castle. Part of her wondered if she might be able to explore the inside of what was in effect her new home. Another part insisted if she started calling it home, she’d start believing it _was_ home. So best to stay outside. It was a beautiful night, and she saw a rabbit and two birds loitering in the glen. She wondered if…

“Um… excuse me,” she interjected, “Hello?”

The animals paused and looked at her cautiously. Sofia took a tentative half step forward, pausing to ensure she wasn’t scaring off the animals. When they still looked tense, Sofia dropped to her knees in the soft grass, spreading out her skirt to act as a bit of a cushion,

“It’s alright,” she told them, gesturing to her necklace, “My amulet allows me to talk to and understand all animals. You can understand me, right?”

“Of course we can sweetheart,” the rabbit replied, hopping closer, “The name’s Clover, and the girls here with me are Robin and Mia.”

“Hi!” “Hello there!” they chirped as hovered in the air for a moment before landing near Sofia’s lap.

“I’m Sofia,” the princess introduced herself.

“Nice name,” Clover remarked, “Now tell us something, what’s a nice girl like you doin’ in a place like this?”

“Well…” Sofia looked to the side, “Is it that obvious I don’t belong here?”

“The only human we’ve seen around these parts in years is Mister Doom and Gloom up in his tower,” the bunny put a comforting paw on her knee, “A new face tends to stick out.”

“It’s a bit of a long story,” Sofia sighed, “And to be honest, I don’t even know some of it. All I know is that Mister Ceedric wants to take over my dad’s kingdom.”

“Your dad’s…” the bunny and birds looked shocked, “You mean, you’re a… _princess_?”

“Mhm,” Sofia nodded, “Princess of the Kingdom of Enchancia. Or, at least I _was_ , until…”

“What happened?” Robin asked, hopping closer.

“I was heading home, when Mister Ceedric attacked our carriage. I lost my family that day, though he swears he didn’t…” she couldn’t even bring herself to say the word, “Well, you know. He brought me back here and turned me into a swan,”

“A swan?” the three animals looked at her in a way that suggested doubt, “Hate to break it to you princess,” Clover replied, “But I’ve met a few swans before and uh… you wouldn’t exactly be mistaken for twins.”

“It’s only temporary, sort of,” Sofia explained, “Once the moon’s light touches the lake, I become a human again, but once it leaves,” she sighed, “I turn back into a swan.”

“But there’s gotta be some way to break it,” Clover chimed in, “I don’t know much about magic, but every spell has a counter to it,”

“Mister Ceedric said there were plenty of ways to break the spell. But the only one he told me about was that my true love needed to make a vow of ever-lasting love and prove it to the whole world.”

“Well… how hard can that be?” Clover asked, “Princesses like you usually have true loves before you’re even _born_ -”

“Clover!” Mia and Robin hushed him.

Sofia looked to the lake water, where she saw only her lonely reflection staring back at her. She thought of Hugo, the man she thought was her true love. But he’d simply admired her beauty, and then he’d let her go. Did her heart ache with love lost? Or love torn apart by the machinations of an evil sorcerer? Either way, Sofia felt her heart aching, and so to soothe herself she did what she always did. She sang.

She sang of love and loss, the same loss her mother had once experienced with her birth father. She spoke of constant and unyielding devotion, of yearning to reunite once more. Of hearts torn apart through circumstances no fault of their own. And most importantly, she sang of hope, of a light in the darkness, of love so true nothing could ever break its bonds, nothing could ever really separate true lovers. Her song was all at once a threnody and a hymn, a song of mourning and a song of light. And her voice carried her hopes and wishes up to the stars, with any luck, it may be carried on the wind to Hugo’s ears. And he may find her once again.

StF

Up in his tower Cedric’s plans for taking over Enchancia had still reached a halt. Even though the disappearance of the monarchs would be a huge demoralization, there was still the army to deal with. And with the attack on the royal family, it was more than likely their defenses would be refortified. Cedric knew Baileywick, the man was an expert chief of staff, and Roland’s sister Tilly was serving as regent in the meantime, it would mean double the trouble. He’d come across her a few times in his travels, the adventuresome older sister more than willing to doff her crown for a more fulfilling life chasing excitement and unconventionality. He’d barely managed to hide from her, but he knew her wanderlust would not be quashed for long. Tilly could only stay in one place for so long. And if he could weaken the army from the inside, by the time she decided to take off again he could strike. The problem was in figuring out how to do it.

As he yawned and stretched, snuffing a candle with a well placed breath he heard a noise from outside the tower. It was quite late, and the moon was high in the sky, Princess Sofia had likely returned to her true form hours ago. Oh well, he could bother her about the amulet some other night. It wasn’t as though he truly _needed_ it to take over the kingdom, it would just make the job so much easier.

Cedric went to the window of his tower, ensuring the young princess had yet to leave the hidden castle’s grounds. Sure enough, she was still there, down below making friends with the local wildlife. How fairytale could one girl possibly get? But the sound, the one that had broken him from the reverie of planning, reminding him he still needed food and rest, it was coming from her. As was to be expected of royalty her voice was on a technical level quite beautiful. But what kept him almost spellbound at the window was the emotion. He _felt_ the heartbreak and longing and the sorrow. It was enough to tickle his usually sleeping conscience. He may not have been a monster, but he was certainly no hero. But he could not deter from his course in this instance. Enchancia _needed_ to be his. He had to prove everyone wrong, to make good on his vow from so long ago. One mournful little royal would not stop him. But her voice did entertain him for as long as her song lasted.

When Cedric went to sleep that night, he could still hear the song of sorrow ringing in his ears. His dreams often mirrored his waking desires. Him taking the throne, overthrowing Roland and his family, of finally getting the power and respect he deserved, finally showing all the naysayers just how powerful he really was. But tonight it was different. Shattered images and fragments of melody played across the stage of his sleeping mind. He saw sorrowful blue eyes that turned purple like the glow of her amulet. As he reached for the jewel he found himself falling, deeper and deeper. Just as he had all those years ago. But Cedric had pulled himself out of that darkness by relishing in it. He was the master of shadows, the king of darkness, this world was his domain. Sparks of colorful magic shot across his visions, and then he heard the hard screech of Wormwood’s mighty form, the splintering of the carriage as it had been torn apart. Screams silenced by magic, all except for one. And still he heard her voice, and of a love she claimed would last far longer than forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment and let me know what you thought. Thank you so much for reading and I'll see you all soon!


	3. No Fear

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... hi, it's been a while. I promise I haven't forgotten the story but I'm switching back and forth between a lot of wips so things that get updated simply mean I had the motivation to write for them tbh. Hope you all are still with this piece because I'm excited to share it with you. And fair warning, here's where we begin to shift from the Swan Princess movie's storyline, everyone cool? Cool. In that case, enjoy!

Their research provided nothing from Hugo’s library. But at least Hildegarde was able to better organize it and create an inventory for him so if he ever needed anything he would be able to find it. The books from Freezenberg wouldn’t arrive for another couple of days, since they had to be  _ carefully _ selected,  _ carefully _ packaged, and then  _ carefully _ shipped out to his castle; where they would then need to be  _ carefully _ unloaded and then  _ carefully _ sifted through before all of the discards were  _ carefully _ packed up and by now Hugo was certain he got the idea. To evade boredom, Hugo suggested they go horse riding, a brisk little trot that would give them some fresh air and do them some good. But Hildegarde lamented that she didn’t have any riding clothes with her and she would need to know what color horse she would be able to ride before she could possibly select one so they could coordinate. A meal on the terrace was also rejected for a similar reason. Had she not been helping him with his research Hugo might have wondered if there was anything other than fashion the princess who was his guest cared about.

They finally managed to come to a solution, a walk through the castle gardens. Hildegarde was in her blue walking gown, which meant she didn’t need to change which meant Hugo didn’t need to wait for her. As his etiquette instructor had taught him, Hugo offered Hildegarde his arm as they walked through the greenery. Hildegarde seemed enchanted with all the flora and fauna that comprised the garden, and Hugo saw a soft smile spread across her face as she admired the flowers.

“Do you like the gardens?” he asked, perhaps a little haltingly, since he was sure he’d never seen anything but a practiced and self assured smile on Hildegarde’s face. But this one made her seem a bit more… warm, and less like the princess of ice and snow that she was.

“Oh yes,” Hildegarde sighed dreamily, “They’re lovely. I just  _ adore _ flowers you know,”

“You don’t get to see them much in Freezenberg I take it?”

“No,” Hildegarde shrugged, “The only flowers that grow there are Ice Lillies and Snow Nettles,”

“Snow Nettles?” an odd name for a flower. And he came from a kingdom with flora named Hydracinths, Lorrianders, and Rosinfere, to name a few.

“Mmm,” Hildegarde hummed in response, “They used to be called Snow Drops, and for a long time they were the only flower in Freezenberg which was strong enough to grow through the snow. Because it was so important to us, the Snow Drop was the official flower of Freezenberg, it’s even on the royal family’s coat of arms. But,” she sighed, “One day, the Snow Drops all went missing. As it turned out, it was because of a fairy named Miss Nettle. We thought she was being cruel, but as it turned out, she created the flowers herself, and when my father sent the Royal Gardener out to find a flower that could bloom through the snow he discovered them and took them without asking. But when we finally recognized her and explained the importance of the flower, she returned them to us. In return we renamed the Snow Drop the Snow Nettle.”

“Wow,” Hugo was impressed, “And how did you find that out? I mean, if she was simply taking them…”

“Sofia helped us,” Hildegarde shrugged, “She and her family had come for the Snow Drop Festival and Sofia vowed she would save it when we had to tell them it was likely going to be cancelled.”

“Sofia did all that?” Hugo asked, surprised. He had never known his intended was a skilled detective, or that she could empathize with a seemingly heartless fairy and come to a solution that would make both parties happy. He sighed, as he realized now what Sofia had meant when she had asked him what else about her had incited him to marriage. And the answer was nothing, because he didn’t really  _ know _ Sofia.

“About two years ago, yes,” Hildegarde shrugged, “Didn’t she tell you?”

“Perhaps she did, and I have simply forgotten,” Hugo sighed, “To be quite honest I wasn’t particularly interested in Sofia or anything she did until recently,”

Hildegarde looked shocked at him, “You mean to tell me you’ve been engaged to Sofia practically your entire life and you never once had the desire to get to know her? What exactly did you think a marriage would entail? You ruling from one castle and her from another?”

“Isn’t that what any prince you marry would have to do?” Hugo shot back.

“I am currently not engaged,” Hildegarde retorted, “And the situation would depend entirely on what kind of prince I marry. If I marry a prince who is the heir to his kingdom I would become his Queen-Consort, and the crown of Freezenberg would pass down to the next eligible title in my father’s line. Most likely it would be my cousin Kristoff. But if I were to marry a second son, or third or so on,” Hildegarde shot Hugo a knowing look, reminding him without words that part of this whole arrangement had been in order to make a very lucrative deal between Cygnea -Sofia’s home kingdom prior to its merging with Enchancia- and his own. That his elder brother Alex was the actual heir to the throne, though Hugo was the current heir apparent while his brother was off studying, “Then he would obviously come to rule Freezenberg with me.”

“Which would you prefer more then?” Hugo asked her, “To rule the kingdom of your birth, or to see somewhere new?”

“I could ask the same of you,” Hildegarde parried, “Your kingdom is lovely, it would be a wonderful place to winter in, but Freezenberg is in my blood. As much as I adore flowers, I know there’s a part of me that will always long for the snow capped mountains of my home. It’s simply in my blood,”

“Well,” Hugo sighed, “It must be nice then, to have a kingdom of your own,”

“Oh, Prince Hugo,” Hildegarde stopped immediately, “That’s not, I didn’t mean-”

“It’s quite alright,” Hugo said, smiling sadly, letting out a mirthless breath of laughter, “Ever since I could remember I have always lived in the shadows of my father and my brother,” though he knew of the talks of being wealthy and sought after, but truthfully his looks were the only thing to his name, and even those were shared with Alex. Hugo had always had to work hard to make himself desired because he didn’t have a crown to buy a wife with, he had to make sure people could see he was worth something, other than being the spare prince of course. The deal with Cygnea had been the only thing expected of him as a child, and later the good will of both Cygnea and Enchancia when the kingdoms had merged. But he had failed, and in the eyes of his father, his son had simply delivered yet another disappointment. And ever since the incident, when Sofia had left he had yet to even see Garrick, who had decided to go on a hunt to improve his constitution and had not yet returned.

“Well I… I never noticed,” Hildegarde said quietly, “I always thought you were a better match than your brother anyways,”

Hugo picked up his head at that, “You truly think so?”

Hildegarde looked away, snapping open her fan and fluttering it. But something about the motion seemed less like the usual Hildegarde and more like she was attempting to avoid something, “Ahem,” she cleared her throat, and she was fluttering too fast for him to see properly, but was that a slight blush he saw rising in her cheeks? “We should get back to work in the library,”

“But-”

“Oh! But I’m in my walking dress, not my research dress,” Hildegarde clucked her tongue, “I’ll simply have to go back inside and change, meet you in the library!”

And with a rustling of her skirts and a wave of her fan she was gone, leaving Hugo standing in the garden and wondering when it had gotten so warm outside.

StF

“So let me get this straight,” Clover said for what was probably the fifth time since making her acquaintance, “You’re a swan during the day, and a princess at night?”

“Technically I’m a princess regardless of whether I’m a swan or a human but yes,” Sofia answered yet again, “Basically.”

“And why did the blowhard up in his tower decide to do this?” Clover asked skeptically.

“He wants to take over my family’s kingdom, and he seems to think he needs my amulet to do so,”

“And why hasn’t he just taken it then?” Mia asked her.

“For each deed done, for better or worse; a power is granted, a blessing, or curse,” Sofia recited the poem associated with her amulet, “If he simply tries to take the amulet from me he’d be cursed. And the only way you can break the curse is by doing a good deed,”

“So what use is that thing to him?” Clover asked her, “If he wants to use it to take over the kingdom then the amulet will curse him, and then he’d have to do something good to get rid of the curse.”

“And the worse the deed, the worse the curse,” Sofia lamented, “Which means we’re both stuck, because I can’t give him the amulet, and he can’t take it, and I’m still cursed, with only one way I know of to break it.”

“A vow of everlasting love, proven to the world,” Robin added, “Yes we know,”

Sofia sighed, “I guess it doesn't matter,” she added, “Even if I were to get free I could never leave my family behind.”

“Leave ‘em behind?” Clover asked, pausing from munching on a rose bush leaf to look at her, “You mean they're here?”

“Somewhere,” Sofia nodded, “At least, I hope they are. He said he hadn't killed them,”

“And you  _ believe _ him?” Clover asked skeptically, raising a brow at her.

“I have to,” Sofia shrugged, “I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t. Besides,” she added, perhaps a little more sheepishly, “I just don’t think that he’s the sort of person who  _ would _ … do something like that I mean.”

“To be quite honest,” Clover answered, “He’s not, though probably not for lack of trying,”

“What do you mean by that?” Sofia asked the rabbit.

“He’s not exactly… ah,  _ skilled _ in his art,” Mia added,

“Usually the only one at risk of death is him,” Robin agreed.

“That can’t be true,” Sofia shook her head, “if he wasn’t a great sorcerer, he never would have been able to curse me.”

“Everyone gets lucky at least once in their lives kid,” Clover told her, putting a paw on her knee, “Cursing you might have been it.”

“I’m not sure I can really believe that,” Sofia shrugged, “I mean, not that I don’t believe you but…” she sighed, looking off into the distance though her eyes had clearly taken her into the past, “You weren’t there, when he sent that… that monster after my family. The man I saw then, he was almost like a different person.”

“Yeah well,” Clover shrugged, “How’s about you go wandering through the castle then? See what he’s like when he’s not doing that? I promise, it should make you smile at the very least,”

“Isn’t he asleep right now?” Sofia asked the rabbit, looking at the moon high in the sky.

“All the more reason to do it,” Clover assured her, “He can’t get mad at you if he said you could go in, right?”

“Well…” Sofia bit her lip. She couldn’t deny she was curious, a person’s house said a lot about them. And maybe… maybe she could find out where he was keeping her family, find a way to set them free. And if she found out he’d lied to her… well Sofia wasn’t precisely sure what she would do then, it’s not as if there would be any way to bring them back if they were…”

No! She refused to even  _ think _ such a horrible fate had befallen them. She just needed to stay positive. Sunny thoughts Sofia, sunny thoughts. Quickly she glanced overhead and saw where the moon was in the sky. Well, if she was going to get looking she better start soon or else she’d have to wait an entire day. Slowly she rose from her seated position by the banks of the lake and made her way around the outer walls. Though the sorcerer had said she could go within the castle as she liked, he certainly hadn’t made it easy to get inside. But, thankfully, she was able to find an opening through a slightly destroyed section between an outer wall and an inner one. She slipped inside the crack, mindful of the fact that she would have to be incredibly careful. Despite the light outside, there was very little of it that managed to make its way into this room, and who knew what else lurked in the darkness?

“Oh, I wish I could see,” she lamented in a soft whisper, trying to make certain she disturbed no one who may have been hiding in the recesses of this place.

To her surprise, her amulet began to glow, emanating a soft purple light which then cast itself about the room. It wasn’t nearly as accurate as a lantern or even a candle would have been, but it was better than stumbling around in the dark. With a bit clearer vision Sofia could see this was part of the dungeon complex, a place to put prisoners of the state, but she supposed the ones who were less of a threat. Or maybe it was a holding cell, some place to put people disturbing the peace at royal events. Not that it had been used in that way for many years it had seemed. Either way, it was empty, at least of human life. Sofia wandered on, coming out into a grand foyer. Or rather, it would have been had the castle not been allowed to fall into a state of such disrepair. Even so, she found it beautiful the way ivy and other plantlife curled along the stone walls, making patterns on par with any artistic work crafted by hand. The holes in the ceiling almost strategically placed to allow moonlight to stream in in dappled pools of silver. It seemed like a place straight out of a fairytale, but if that was what this was, Sofia would be able to hope her true love would set her free. But Hugo didn’t love her, as much as he might believe he did, as much as she may have wanted him to, he didn’t. Though her birth father had died at sea before she was able to properly remember him, Sofia had seen through the example of dad and her mother that love was giving, a balance of push and pull. And Roland loved far more about her mother than her looks. Sofia had been able to see it in the way he bent to her reasoning in spite of his own emotions and logic, the way he was able to take her advice into account not just as his queen, but as an equal. That was the sort of love Sofia wanted, and the sort of love she would never have a chance to find. How could she? She was trapped here with no chance of rescue if she wanted to be human even by night, as a swan she couldn’t communicate with humans and besides, who could see a beautiful swan and fall in love with it even knowing there was a human girl beneath the feathers? And there was absolutely no way she could ever fall in love with the person who had taken everything from her, she wouldn’t even consider it.

Sofia sighed and moved on, she could lament her fate during the day, when she could do nothing but stay by the lake. But now was the time she had the opportunity to improve things, the castle was hers to explore so long as she kept quiet. As she wandered up the stairs she found the remains of several bedrooms -still more or less functional if a bit dirty to be quite honest-, a kitchen, the former servants quarters which caused her to pause and reminisce wistfully about Baileywick and the other friends among the castle staff she’d made. Moving on she found what was possibly the most well kept room in the castle thus far, indicating its more frequent use. A magnificent library, with books climbing from floor to ceiling. Shelves upon shelves, rows upon rows. So many books she wasn’t sure she, or anyone, could ever read them all. The embers of a fire were still smoldering in the hearth, indicating someone had been there recently. Likely her captor, as she wasn’t sure she could see the point of anyone else being in the castle besides the two of them. Sofia felt a sudden shiver rush over her, and finally remembered that though the days had passed in a miasma of barely noticed passing hours, with nighttime being the only thing she was conscious of now, it was nearing fall. It had been after midsummer by the time they’d set out from Enchancia, a debate of pressing importance taking priority over her engagement game, which Sofia had been grateful for. But now it was obvious that she’d dressed in a summer gown and the winter was fast approaching. Which begged another question, how was she possibly to survive an entire winter as a swan? Winters in Enchancia had shown her that waters tended to freeze over in times of cold, and if she could only transform back when the moonlight touched her feathers on the  _ water _ of the lake… Sofia used the glow of her amulet to pick her way to the fire place around stacks of discarded books left lying around on the floor; some even left cracked open and the top pages covered with a layer of dust so thick it indicated the previous reader had only intended to step away for a moment. Reaching the fireplace Sofia knelt and began to stoke the coals, stirring a few more embers and blowing so that the flames could catch and reignite as she added a small piece of tinder to the pile. She cleaned up the ash as best she could and added more wood. Eventually, a fire began to blaze, lighting up the room, though not as much as she would have liked. But realizing that she risked waking up Mr. Ceedric and risking his anger. She wasn’t foolish, he’d already said he was keeping her alive because he needed her to freely give him her amulet. But she doubted his kindness would extend much father than it already had.

Not daring to go much father than the light of the fire Sofia idly perused the shelves, wishing she knew where to find someone that might help her out of her predicament, even if she could adjust the curse to change her back to human in just the light of the moon, rather than the moon’s light over this specific lake. She could fly to a kingdom, maybe Hugo’s, maybe home, she could wait until nightfall, find someone, explained what had happened. Of course… she’d still need to plan a journey, since she didn’t have any idea where she was in relation to anywhere else. The titles of the books were not inscribed on their spines, or rather, if they had been they were far too aged to make out now, especially in the dimness of the late night aided only by the periphery lighting of the fire as it reached forward but not out. Thankfully, the shining plaques on the shelves that glimmered enough to make them legible were there as consolation. Unfortunately, these only showed the category of the materials, along with a lettering system.  _ Biology A-G _ ,  _ Botany L-Q _ , and so on. But however poignantly enough, Sofia was able to find a promising section;  _ Magical Theory S-Z _ . Well, at worst she could spend the rest of her evening looking for a pertinent book, or at least a promising one to leaf through later. They were thankfully separated by color, which helped to differentiate them since Sofia had no spine titles to go by. A leather tome with a deep purple tincture to it, odd because it was hard to color the material in the first place and especially with a color relating to royalty, caught her eye. Pulling it off the shelf she brought it to the fireplace so she could read the title and her heart began to soar,

_ Unbreakable Curses and How to Best Them, Vol. I _

A book on curses, more importantly, a first book in a series on how to manipulate unbreakable curses. Perhaps Sofia  _ could _ alter the parameters of the curse just enough to get help. Or maybe… maybe she could find her family, set them free. If she could get even one of them out of this place, back to Enchancia, the sorcerer’s plans would be foiled, and he likely wouldn’t know until it was too late. But before she tried to do that, she needed to know where they were first. And she wanted to do that while she still had time. To ensure the first volume’s safety since it seemed obvious Mr. Ceedric frequented this room she pushed the rest of the books on the shelf close together to close the gap. A space on the end of a shelf was normal, one right in the middle indicated a book had been taken. And Sofia was not yet ready to risk her captor finding her out. She hid the book beneath a couch beside which was a pile of different stacks, that way, even if it was discovered the more logical explanation would be it had fallen out of the pile rather than that someone had hidden it. Satisfied with her work, Sofia pulled at the gate of the fireplace and ensured that the books were far enough away to keep from catching as she allowed the fire to burn itself out. Certain as she could be the library was more or less as she’d found it, Sofia gently closed the door.

The portrait gallery was immense. Filled with faces from longer than Sofia could remember, most covered in thick layers of dust that practically obscured the faces beneath. Some were irrevocably damaged by the elements with the castle crumbling and the artistry suffering. And towards the end of the hall she saw the veils of black covering a royal family, the black of mourning, as was the custom. Whatever had happened to cause these people to leave it clearly hadn’t been planned. Why else would the remnants of finery and life remain in the midst of ruin? Which begged the question, what had happened? Had… had Mister Ceedric had something to do with it? He said he hadn’t killed anyone, but he could have been lying. And if he was, what did that mean for her family? As Sofia pondered these questions she found a small covered display. More mourning art left abandoned? She wondered, and curiosity caused her to pull at the thick sheet of black draped over the presentation. When what lay beneath was revealed to her her breath caught.

Her family, all of them; Amber, James, Mom and Dad. They were all here, and they looked as though they’d been frozen in time, still trapped in the horror of that night. Dad was defending Mom, an arm wrapped tightly around her waist as he stood with his sword drawn. James, looking more shocked than fearful with wide eyes lifted to the sky. And Amber, curled with fear as she too continued to watch the great beast that had torn their carriage apart. Amber… Sofia let a tear slip, her dear sister, her family. Sofia stepped closer, with them so lifelike she felt as though she could reach out and shake them from this enchanted slumber of sorts. And this was the fate promised to her for her cooperation. Sofia resolved that she would need to do something to save them, she couldn’t do that if she joined them. And to do that she couldn’t spend her time waiting for someone to save her. She would need to take fate into her own hands, and to evade suspicion, she would have to act precisely as if she didn’t know where they were. Which meant no visits, no nothing. With a heavy resolve in her heart, Sofia took one last look at them, silently promising them that this was not goodbye, but merely farewell. Even so, she stepped closer to Amber and pressed a kiss against her palm, laying it flat against the side of her sister’s cheek.

“I’ll come back,” she promised with a whisper, “As soon as I can free you I  _ will _ come back,”

She expected only silence to be her answer, but instead was met with the sound of cracking, as if something were breaking apart. Her eyes rose and found that where her hand had touched Amber’s cheek, a sickening gray color was spreading over her face. And as Sofia panickedly rubbed her fingers against the spot, she felt it, her sister was turning to stone. Overwhelmed with the emotions of both finding her family once more and now afraid of losing them all over again Sofia did the only thing her frantic mind could think of to do.

She screamed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment and let me know what you thought. Thank you so much for reading and I'll see you all next time!


	4. The Sorcerer and the Princess

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I'm really getting a feel for precisely how I want this story to go. Just don't expect it to much resemble the original by the end haha. Anyways, hope you enjoy this chapter!

By his very nature Cedric was someone who tended to burn the midnight oil more often than not. He had been ever since he was a small child. First it had been because night time was the best time to read up on magics even before he began to use them, then it had been because of night terrors, and lastly because of a return to form in that he had needed to plan endlessly to ensure that his takeover of Enchancia was absolutely flawless and completely foolproof. As a result, he tended to look haggard, bedraggled, and just permanently exhausted. Cedric suspected he looked about ten years older than he actually was because of it, but beauty and glamor spells weren’t practical for long term use since they took immense concentration to keep up beyond a single night. And every magic eventually wore off, so it really wasn’t worth it. Besides, his appearance better fit his moniker so that was even more incentive to keep it. He could always clean up when the crown was on his head.

As it was, he was pouring over a scroll that was said to create a crystalline army, which in conjunction with his own plans for the amulet of Avalor would make certain that he would be unstoppable. Wormwood was soundly asleep in his cage, slightly snoring as he dreamed up sinister dreams. Cedric looked peacefully around his tower and sighed, solitude was his constant companion, even sharing his living space with someone else. Would he truly be able to rule Enchancia when the thought of leaving this place of solitude, study, and sorcery was enough to give him a panic attack? More importantly… would he even be able to? A crystalline army was nice, but unsustainable long term. And he was just one man, one man even the magical community had rejected and ostracized. That thought gave him pause… he was the outcast, the underdog, the one everyone looked down upon, but he wasn’t egoistic enough to believe himself the greatest sorcerer in the world, there were still some better… Merlin, for example. And that was about the end of the list as far as he was concerned but he had been bested by the odds too many times to completely discount the notion that taking over Enchancia, while his ultimate goal, might prove his undoing.

But before he could ponder that too deeply he heard an ear piercing scream. Immediately his heart kicked into overdrive as the only other person around who could scream would be the remaining Princess Sofia. And the reason she should have to scream? He couldn’t discount it was something as pathetic as a lowly rat making its home in the castle, but it could have been something else as well. Which made him worry, though he had confidence in his ability to keep unwanted interlopers out, for the princess to scream in such a manner made him worry that his wards had been weakened, and that someone was harming the princess. It didn’t even occur to him as he ran down the stairs as fast as his legs could carry him that someone harming the princess would work out best for him, as it would leave the amulet open for him to become its new bearer. All that consumed his mind was panic that if he lost the princess, he lost the kingdom because as he had told Wormwood, he was a villain, but he wasn’t a monster.

Cedric stumbled into the portrait gallery and found the princess frantically worrying over the petrified forms of her family members. Wait… petrified? The effects of his spell should have kept them in suspended animation, not petrified them. What had _happened_?

Immediately he reached for his wand, “Petrificus Reverso!” with a blast of light the royal family were returned to flesh and blood. Cedric sighed and stowed the magical device away in the sleeve of his robe. Then he turned to the cause of all this, Princess Sofia.

She was utterly incomprehensible, babbling and sobbing and not seeming to have realized that the most significant danger was actually yet to come. Huddled on the floor in a puddle of her skirts Cedric sighed again, dealing with people really wasn’t his forte. But he had more than enough practice handling hysterical girls.

“What is the meaning of all this?” he asked, to no avail, not that he truly expected a response from her. Not in this state.

Cedric put a finger to the space between his brows and rubbed it with frustration. If he wanted answers, he was going to have to do the one thing he dreaded; play nice. Not wanting to waste any more of his magic for levitating purposes he bent down, scooped up the princess, and brought her to the closest habitable room, the library. Pulling out his wand again he lit a magical flame in the fireplace and set her down on one of the couches. Then, he conjured up a blanket and some lilac tea. This was shock, that was all it was, but he needed to get answers out of her, the royals shouldn’t have turned to stone at all, which meant there was more to his work than he had anticipated, and Cedric didn’t particularly like the implications of that.

He checked on the princess to see she was carefully sipping at her drink, holding it in her hands like it was her only tether to sanity. At least the blubbering had stopped. Cedric stood at the other end of the couch she was bundled up on, waiting for her to notice him. When she didn’t move her gaze from the cup of tea he approached her. Sofia brought her eyes up to him, large and glistening with unshed tears. Oh Merlin’s Mushrooms, she wasn’t about to start crying again was she?

But Sofia was staring in awe. Whether he knew it or not, this had swayed her mind that Mister Ceedric was a good man. Perhaps a bit misguided, but a good man deep down. He could have let them die, but he didn’t. He had saved them, without asking anything in return. Then he had picked her up and brought her here so she could gather her wits aided by warmth and light when he could have left her still broken in the dark. She hoped he would only think it because of the combined heat. It was strange though, to have been carried like that. Perhaps it was just because of the deal but she’d never really been around a man before. Or rather, not anyone she’d really consider a man; Dad was dad, James was her goofball of a brother, and Baileywick was more like an uncle her dad just happened to employ. Aside from Hugo, who she’d also known since childhood, she hadn’t really ever been around someone she registered as being different. Male servants were the servants, male dignitaries were respected guests, and that was the way it went. So to be picked up like she weighed nothing, by a man who was cruel enough to freeze her family yet kind enough to save them when further endangered; it was confusing and it made her heart pound, her cheeks flush, and her head spin. It was a contradiction, even if she herself had suspected there was more good to him than evil.

“Well?” he asked, raising a brow imperiously. Clearly, Mister Ceedric was expecting an explanation for her actions.

“I…” she suddenly found herself unable to speak clearly, a strange new nervousness impeding her speech, “You said I could go into the castle,” she reminded him softly.

“I certainly don’t recall saying that,” Cedric scoffed in reply. But as he thought back to his words the night he’d cursed her. He’d told her she was free to leave the domain of the castle and its lake at any time, with the caveat that to transform back she would need to be on the waters of the lake. He’d never technically told her that she could explore the castle itself, but he supposed it was foolish not to tell her directly she couldn’t. That was on him.

“O, oh,” Sofia looked away from him, cheeks pink for some reason and that only served to annoy him further. Damn royals, thinking that because they had a crown and a title they could do whatever they damn well pleased. This castle was _his_ domain, _his_ fortress, and he wasn’t about to share it with anyone.

But then, she took his ire and turned it on its head, “I’m sorry,” she said quietly.

She apologized. Princess Sofia of Enchancia had apologized. To _him_. The man who had cursed her and her family, the man who was trying to take over her kingdom, the man who had stripped her of everyone she loved and her very humanity, and here she was apologizing to him because _she_ had made an honest mistake.

Cedric didn’t quite know how to respond to that. His people skills hadn’t been the best even _before_ his self imposed exile to this abandoned hidden kingdom. And perhaps he had expected her to be more of a royal brat, just like so many of her ilk were. But… Cedric sighed, “At least I was able to step in before irreversible damage was done,” he ended up waving the incident, and the apology off.

“What happened?” Sofia asked him, “I mean, if you don’t mind telling me that is,”

“Sparing you any incriminating details,” Cedric answered, still not immune to talking for the sake of boastfulness, “The spell I used to freeze your family apparently had an adverse effect to human touch.”

“Why?”

“I don’t rightly know,” he admitted, “But I’m sure my scrolls have something on it.”

“Scrolls?” Sofia tilted her head to the side, “You have scrolls too?”

“Why of course,” Cedric tutted, “I have the largest library of magical knowledge in the tri-kingdom area!”

“Wow,” Sofia breathed, “That sounds ah!-mazing!”

“It is quite impressive,” Cedric admitted, “Not that you’ll be seeing any of it any time soon but,” he shrugged.

“That’s alright,” Sofia ducked her head, “There’s plenty of books in this library to keep me occupied.”

“And after tonight’s little incident in the portrait gallery, what makes you think I’ll be allowing you back in here at all?” Cedric raised a brow at her.

“Oh _please_ Mister Ceedric?” Sofia clasped her hands together at her chest, eyes wide, _begging_ not to have this place taken from her, “I promise I won’t go anywhere else in the castle, but _please_ let me have the library!”

What she hadn’t noticed was that her posture brought the eye to her decolletage, something Cedric hadn’t before now given thought to. The princess was simply supposed to be a pawn, another ingredient in the potion for his success. He wasn’t supposed to be kind to her, he wasn’t supposed to notice more about her beyond the amulet he coveted and she possessed. But had the necklines of royal gowns always been so low? Cedric felt a heat building in his neck and behind his ears and turned away to face the firelight,

“Oh…” he hemmed and hawed for a few moments, trying to get Wormy’s reminder that there was more than one way to claim a kingdom out of his head as he attempted to answer her. What did he need a practical child bride for? Eventually he sighed, “Alright,” he relented, “I suppose it will get boring out there once the weather changes won’t it. And you’d find your way into the castle out of pure necessity once winter comes anyways. You may use the castle, but only the library, and if you decide you would like a bed too, you will speak to me about it and I will assign you one. Is that clear?”

Her eyes grew wider, if that was even possible. Having finished with the tea some time ago she leapt out of the blanket on the couch and wrapped her arms around him in a hug that suggested this was the sort of thing she did for even the smallest of kindnesses. Even though normally those were orders and not requests.

“Oh thank you Mister Ceedric!” she exclaimed, burying her face into his robes and squishing parts of her he’d really rather not think about against his body, “Thank you so much!”

“Alright, alright,” he groused, pushing her off of him with a bit more force than strictly necessary, “Enough of that now,” and then her mispronunciation of his name registered, “And it’s Cedric,” he corrected her, “ _Said-rick_ ,” he enunciated each syllable’s pronunciation very carefully.

“Ceedric,” Sofia repeated back, as though it hadn’t just been pronounced again, “Did I get it right?”

“No,” Cedric replied flatly, “Now off with you, I have very important work to do tomorrow and I barely get enough sleep as it is,”

“Then… I’ll meet you in here tomorrow night?” Sofia asked, sounding almost hopeful. But that would be ridiculous.

“Not if I see you first,” he murmured under his breath, but to her face he simply replied with a, “We shall simply have to see.”

StF

Sure enough, the next night found her in the library, curled up by the fireplace with book in hand. And surprise surprise, her reading material concerned magical theory. He should have had them moved, but then again he’d never expected that she would dare venture in to what implicitly his domain so he’d never considered it.

“You know that book isn’t going to help you, right?” Cedric asked her as he went looking for one of his all time favorite books, the Ultimate Magical Memoirs of Merlin the Magnificent. A very specifically crafted magical book so that whenever Merlin decided to he could add in another chapter and thus always keep the book up to date.

Every once in a while Cedric liked to pick up the volume and search through it, looking to see if the great wizard had accomplished anything new. There had been a time when he’d been young that he wanted to be just like his hero Merlin; a respected practitioner of the magical arts, a credit to his name, first of his kind. He had wanted to do good, help the world, and most importantly, gain enough clout and renown that he could hole up in his own fortress and study magic for the rest of his days with only those requiring help of the utmost skill for the most difficult tasks being allowed to darken his door. Alas, it had simply not been meant to be.

Sofia glanced up from her perusal, what he said was nothing new, she’d already been searching through the tome for anything relating to her or her family’s magical predicaments with very little success. Even so, she tilted her head to the side and asked him, “What do you mean?”

“The spells I used came from very old and dangerous grimoires and scrolls I keep in my private collection,” Cedric boasted, “Kept in a place even your prying eyes wouldn’t be able to access. So it’s no use trying to find an answer anywhere in here.”

“Who said I was looking for an answer to anything?” Sofia countered with a bright smile, “Maybe I just wanted to learn more about magic.”

Cedric scoffed, “I’m sure,” he drawled in such a way as to let her know he didn’t believe her in the slightest.

“I’m being honest,” Sofia countered, even though she wasn’t being _completely_ honest, “I’ve never seen magic done before,” she explained, “Even when we’re out and about visiting other kingdoms Dad’s request is that the royal sorcerers stay far away from us. And visiting royals to Enchancia could only have their non magical guard. The most magical thing I’ve seen in Enchancia are the flying horses.” Sofia thought for a moment, “And… I suppose Vivian’s pet dragon, Crackle.”

“I assume you are excluding the magical amulet you wear around your neck then?” Cedric raised a brow, “Or was your father ever aware of the power it possesses?” at her silence he chuckled, “I figured as much.” but as he looked at the way she refused to meet his eyes, he wondered, “There’s someone you’re trying to protect from him, isn’t there?”

“What do you mean?” she was asking with innocence in her expression, but it was found lacking in her eyes.

“Come, come now princess,” Cedric tutted, “Regardless of who it is you’re hiding from me I can assure you they’re neither in danger of me nor would they be powerful enough to stop me when I begin my takeover. Your father certainly saw to that, much to his own foolishness,”

Sofia was silent, but he could tell she probably agreed. To outright attempt to control those with more power than them through fear and intimidation was a powerful tactic, but in the end it only spelled destruction.

“You can admit it if you like,” Cedric cajoled her, “It’s certainly true that your kingdom isn’t exactly a haven for those with less than mundane inclinations.” Cedric chuckled to himself again, thinking of all he had learned with Wormwood’s help, and how that would all change soon enough, “No, your father hates magic with a passion, Enchancia is a prison to anyone blessed with the gift.”

“A passion he never explained,” Sofia replied quietly, “To me… or to anyone,”

“Far be it from me to lie to you,” Cedric shrugged, “The reason magic is outlawed in Enchancia, is because of me.”

StF

Sofia was torn between being surprised, and for the news to have been completely expected. The man before her was a villain. It was no surprise that he would be the cause of what she would call a poorer quality of life for those of a magical bent. But if she recalled correctly when she’d asked Baileywick, magic had been a practice under heavy suspicion and supervision from the time of her grandfather Roland the First. Dad was just keeping up the tradition. And though it was definitely difficult to say for sure how old Mister Ceedric was, even at the absolute oldest, he couldn’t have been more than a child when he’d caused that much trouble as to still be echoing through the kingdom decades later. In spite of herself, she was almost impressed.

“What did you do?” Sofia asked before she could help herself. The incident was never fully discussed, nor were the records available in any of the histories of Enchancia. At least, not in detail, all they had said was that there had been an incident which had caused the monarchy to look more critically at how much freedom they gave their magic using subjects and had created laws to keep the non-magical citizens safe.

“It would be far better to ask what I _didn’t_ do,” Cedric corrected her, “That would take less time,”

“I can’t imagine they would change the laws of the kingdom over a child,” Sofia shook her head.

“Well, when the royal sorcerer is your own father and isn’t even on your side,” Cedric shrugged, “It’s quite surprising what can be accomplished.”

Sofia’s eyes widened, “Your own dad wouldn’t take your side?” her question came out as a horrified whisper, as if she couldn’t believe it.

“Believe it or not princess,” Cedric remarked bitterly, “Some people care more about their official positions than their own children. People like my parents,” his expression was dark, and furious. But Sofia couldn’t tell if it was at her for prying, or at himself for revealing it to her.

“I…” Sofia found herself stumbling for words, “I’m sorry I asked,” she cast her gaze down to the side, unable to meet his eyes. She shouldn’t have asked, it wasn’t her business or her place to do so.

“It was a long time ago,” Cedric sighed, “And I am about to right every wrong that was ever done to me.”

She didn’t want to let him, she couldn’t allow him to hurt the people she had vowed to protect. But a part of her was conflicted. As a princess, she had always been taught to seek justice for all who needed it. And didn’t Mister Ceedric? Didn’t the magic users of Enchancia who had suffered severely for the mistakes of a child? Then again, despite what he’d said, there was no guarantee he would make life better for them.

Remembering what he had asked her before she quietly said, “Lucinda,”

“Pardon?”

“Lucinda,” she repeated, a little more loudly, “That’s the one I was trying to protect.”

“And who might that be?”

“She’s a friend of mine,” Sofia looked off to the side, remembering her friend’s fun clothing and her broom, “She was a witch in the village of Dunwiddie, she was being chased by the guards one day for hexing the other kids,”

“Hexing,” Cedric mused, “Really now,”

“Nothing I would necessarily classify as dangerous,” Sofia quickly defended, “Just pranks I’m sure she thought were harmless. But I heard the guards talking, they said their orders were to put any witch, wizard, sorcerer or sorceress caught using their magic for ill in the dungeons. Do you have any idea how hard it would be for her family to get her out if that had happened?”

“And so what did you do?”

“I…” Sofia sometimes couldn’t believe she’d done it herself. She had gone against the law, and even though it had all worked out in the end, even though she knew in her heart she had done the right thing, sometimes the guilt still ate away at her. The same guilt of keeping the secret of her amulet away from her family, “I hid her,” she admitted, “I hid her from the guards, and then I talked to her. She agreed that she wanted to make friends, to make up for what she’d done. She became a good witch,”

“And let me guess,” Cedric finished for her, “She never got in trouble again, especially not with the guards checking her parents house more frequently than they had before, right?”

Again Sofia didn’t answer him. Which was all the answer he needed.

“I know he thinks he’s doing the right thing,” Sofia said quietly, “Dad only wants to protect us,”

“And look at how well that turned out,” Cedric laughed cruelly, “You’re here as a girl only by night, and he almost got turned into a statue, irreversibly I might add,”

“Mmm,” Sofia hummed in sad agreement.

“Princess,” Cedric told her, “I shall tell you one thing that regardless of good or evil is always true; keeping knowledge from people is always the key to one’s own undoing. Do you know how I got to be so powerful?”

“Is it because you’re a great sorcerer?” Sofia asked him, earnest in her compliment despite herself.

“No. Well… yes,” Cedric replied, “But I didn’t start out the greatest sorcerer in the world you know. I got that way through years of training, study, and hard work. I tracked down some of the oldest recorded pieces of information and I learned all I could from them. Knowledge is power, and those who control the knowledge of others have more power than might first appear.”

“Can you teach me magic then?” Sofia asked, now more curious than ever.

“And why would you want to learn magic?” Cedric raised a skeptical brow at her, “You already have a magical amulet,”

“Which you want from me,” Sofia countered, “I could trade you,”

“No,” Cedric said flatly, “I would be an absolute fool to even consider it. And I am done being made the fool,” he added darkly, clearly remembering something from his past.

“Please?” Sofia prodded, “It would give me a way to entertain myself,”

“You have an entire library to keep you occupied,” Cedric shot back.

“But surely a sorcerer as great as you would be able to teach me,”

“It’s not a matter of if I would be able to teach,” Cedric informed her, “It’s a matter of wanting to. And the answer to that is no, that sounds dreadful, absolutely not. Besides,” he continued, “What would a princess of Enchancia of all places want to learn magic for? Your only job in life is to marry well, and in this instance every kingdom you could marry into has a royal sorcerer of their own.”

“It’s no fun to just watch sorcerers perform their magic,” Sofia lamented, “If I can do magic, why can’t I learn how to use that gift?”

“Princess you may be, for now,” Cedric added, “But what makes you think even if you could get out of here, even if I were to be defeated, your family freed, and your curse broken that you would ever allowed to be a practitioner of magic? You are a royal, and royals do not dabble in magic.”

“But why not?”

“It is simply the way things are done,”

“But if you succeed,” Sofia countered, “You’d be the first, why is it alright for you to be a magic using king and I’m not allowed to learn it?”

“Because unlike you,” Cedric parried, “I was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth nor a crown upon my head. Becoming king is not about magical rulers being better than those without, it is simply me taking all that is owed me.”

“So if I wasn’t you’d teach me?”

“If you weren’t, I would have no need of your presence,” he spat venomously, “Be that as it may,” he said after a beat, “No kingdom would ever accept a magical princess, let alone a magical queen.”

“So you think just like they do then,” Sofia sighed resignedly, “That I’m good for nothing more than as a tool of politics, or as an ornament to be stared at,”

Cedric prickled at the notion he could _ever_ be like any of the common fools who had derided and dismissed him. But he would not admit as such to her because doing so would make her think she could learn magic. And even if she had the knack, had the gift and the drive, he would never teach her, because then he would be creating his own downfall.

They stared at each other in silence for a moment. Though perhaps glaring would be a better term for it. Then, Cedric rose, sent the book he’d failed to read back to its place on the shelf, and aggressively mocked her by bowing low and saying, “If you will excuse me, _Princess_ ,” before taking his leave.

Sofia watched him go, feeling both angry and disappointed that he didn’t think she would ever be a capable magic user. Meanwhile back in his tower Cedric spent the rest of the night in a foul mood, made fouler by her earnest desire and sincerity. Rarely had he ever come across someone, let alone a royal, so eager to learn about magic. Most of them enjoyed the show without consideration for the performer. The sorcerer tossed and turned, punching his pillow in a fruitless attempt to get comfortable. The princess’ words and arguments rolling around in his head like a new spell he was trying to perfect; a great sorcerer, a great teacher… Cedric shook his head and forcefully shut his eyes. Absolute nonsense.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment and let me know what you thought. Thank you so much for reading and I'll see you all next time!

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a comment and let me know what you thought. Thank you so much for reading!


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